Italy Under-18 beat Golden Lions XV
Match Report
In the third match of their South African tour Italy Under-18 beat the Golden Lions 43-24 at the Roodepoort Rugby Club on Wednesday afternoon.
In the first match of their four-match tour they beat Pretoria Boys High and in the second lost to South African Schools A team. On Friday they play SA Schools B in Witbank.
Italy Under-18 led for most of the match, except for a short period before half-time when the Golden Lions scored a converted try to lead 17-15 at the break.
Four minutes into the second half, the Azzurrini got the lead back. The Golden Lions scored again soon afterwards,, but then Lorenzo Puliti scored and the Italians stayed increasingly ahead after that.
Seven tries to four is a comfortable victory.
The team that played for Golden Lions was not its Craven Week side. For one thing the Monument and Florida players were locked in a deadly battle. That took 16 players out of the Craven Week side. The only Craven week players who played were Gert Craucamp, Wesley Kotze, Yannick Tsimanga, Warner Engelbrecht, Grant Victor and Johan Bosch,
Scorers:
For Italy Under-18:
Tries: Pratichetti, Bacchetti, Sebastiani, Locatelli, Puliti, Massaro, Bocchino
Cons: Nava 4
For Golden Lions Invitation XV:
Tries: De Jager, Craucamp, Koetzee, Klearnagh
Cons: Craucamp 2
Teams:
Italy Under-18: 15 Daniele Cicola (Steven Chandler), 14 Andrea Pratichetti, 13 Roberto Quartaroli, 12 Massaro, 11 Andrea Bacchetti, 10 Matteo Nava, 9 Mattia Locatelli (Riccardo Bocchino), 8 Lorenzo Puliti, 7 Alessandro Maestri, 6 Simon, 5 Filippo Giusti (Marco Durigon), 4 Alberto Cazzola, 3 Elia Violi (Gabriele Morelli), 2 Marco Moscarda (Tommaso D'Apice), 1 Andrea De Marchi (Lorenzo Sebastiani)
Coaches: Andrea Cavinato, Andrea Sgorlon
Golden Lions Invitation XV: 15 Faizal de Bruyn (Bastion), 14 Ivan Datens (Bastion), 13 Divan Ferguson (Alberton), 12 Lachlan Niven (St John's), 11 Stéphan de Jager (Marais Viljoen), 10 Cornel Potgieter (Noordheuwel), 9 Gert Craucamp (Alberton), 8 Rinus Swanepoel (Noordheuwel), 7 Nico Claasen (Marais Viljoen), 6 Vaughn Meyer (KES), 5 Wesley Kotzé (Marais Viljoen), 4 Yannick Tsimanga (Greenside), 3 Warner Engelbrecht (Helpmekaar), 2 Grant Victor (Marais Viljoen), 1 Johan Bosch (Helpmekaar)
Referee: Michael Cupido
